130mph on a mountain bike – on snow. Holy crap.
September, 2007
27
Sep 07
Gibraltar Tourism Resources
For some reason, I have an unnatural fixation with all things Gibraltar. I went there and had a blast and want to go back. For most people, it’s a quaint little stopover on a Mediterranean cruise. But it’s my favorite quaint place in the world. I figure if I make it to retirement age, I’ll skip the time-honored tradition of my peoples moving to SoFla and move to Gib instead.
However, there’s no real resource for Gibraltar tourism. When I went there in Feb of ’06, I found literally nothing that would help me out, save the Gibraltar Board of Tourism’s site. So, I’ve compiled a list of sites that would help people out:
- Official Government of Gibraltar – click on Tourism.
- Gibraltar in 48 Hours from the Official Government of Gibraltar’s website.
- Interactive Map of Gibraltar
- Gibraltar Wiki Encyclopaedia
- Nick’s Google Maps Mashup of Gibraltar
- Gibraltar Bus map
I figure, I’ll go back and edit this blog post when I feel like it, but this is a good start.
25
Sep 07
Today at the dentist…
Bad news: Problematic tooth is screwed, so I have to decide whether I should attempt construction or go with a dental implant, both costing more money than I wanted to spend.
Good news: New dentist is super cute and single.
And is a woman, you jerks.
22
Sep 07
Yes, I do bring a coffee mug with me
Yay for Gadling. They asked for what people carry in their travel bags, and I listed the contents of my camera bag. Some people bring gnomes or stuffed animals, I bring my Red Meat coffee mug of Milkman Dan and Ted being drunk at 7am. Hell yeah.
18
Sep 07
Apple Macbook repairs, part 837
So I’m still having persistent issues with screen flickering on my Macbook and finally decided to take it into the Apple Store on North Michigan Avenue. I dislike the Apple Store, from the self-important employees who have a tendency to talk down to you to the atmosphere of people wanting the shiny shiny iPhone. My screen has been flickering for months intermittently. It happens, then it doesn’t happen and it’s an annoyance. Luckily I got Applecare, otherwise I’d be truly fucked.
Anyway, after talking with the nice people on the phone, I decided to venture into the store to drop off my Macbook. After waiting for 30 minutes sitting on the floor (and firing off a letter to sjobs@apple.com), I finally had some emo-looking kid look at my Macbook. I ran through the “I’ve tried everything” checklist with him and he seemed completely uninterested. He looked at the Macbook and said, well, the reason why you’re having screen flickering is that this Macbook came with a 60gb hard drive and you installed a 120gb hard drive, and thus, consumes more power.
Are you fucking kidding me?
I gave him this look like “seriously that was the dumbest thing you ever could have said” and told him “Let’s try that answer again.” He backed down and said that he’d make sure that they’d take “extra special” care of the Macbook.
This makes for the 6th service repair for my Macbook in… 15 months. That’s not cool. I should have bought something better. Blah.
17
Sep 07
The birthday post
Yeah, I turned 30. It was sort of a non-event anyway. Lunch at Flat Top Grill, bowling at Diversey River Bowl (cosmic bowling at 2pm!), Hot Doug’s and the Chicago Fire game. It was a busy day and I was sober the entire day, which was bothersome.
Jackie and her bf along with Tim and spousal unit (hi Holly!) came up from the Illinois hinterland to hang out with me for the day, and I’m glad because everyone else bailed on me, so they are dead to me.
Pics are forthcoming. I shot entirely in RAW on the 40D and am trying to get my Lightroom skills back up to par so I can batch process them.
I’m grateful that everyone let me win bowling with a wicked 122 and then had the stomach to endure Hot Doug’s. I’m glad Doug recovered from being a backup dancer with Fergie and his surgery from his fall and the consumption of pain killers to take our order. He’s truly the best. However, french fries in duck fat make your stomach hate you because it’s like it can’t process that much goodness. And the celebrity sausage was so good that it hurt.
The Fire game itself was pretty good. Section 8 was hopping mad – a lot more uptempo from the game that I went to earlier in the year. There had to be at least 20 large flags in Section 8. We did get the rest of the stadium involved with making everyone cheer for the Fire. The game ended up 2-2, which kinda sucked because the NY Red Bulls scored on a crap deflection off of one of the Fire defensemen. And Blanco got roughed up and the refs were blind to it.
So now it’s recovery and TCB time.
12
Sep 07
Pimp My Bike
I’ve put my ~1000 miles on the bike thus far since I got it and I’m pretty used to how things are going. I managed to brake a spoke on my rear tire (thanks Mike for helping diagnose it) and had everything tuned, tightened and lubed (which, coincidentally, is how I’ll be spending Saturday).
Yesterday, I went to Get a Grip Cycles, which specializes in custom fitting your bike. Since I have a store-bought road bike, they’d have to retrofit my bike to the best that they can. The cost for 3 hours of work is $325 + parts, which to me seems pretty outrageous. Sure, there’s skill involved, but damn. I’m pretty sure that all I need is a shorter stem for my bike since I feel like I’m hunched over (which in turn, jacks up my wrists and lower back). Still, $325? Seriously…
11
Sep 07
Dear Mr. Canon – Nick’s letter to Canon
Since it’s been a while since I’ve written a rather bizarre letter to a company to see if I’d get a response, I figured that I should write my pals at Canon since I now own 3 of their cameras and 3 expensive lenses. I don’t know what I expect to get out of this but all I know is that it goes out tomorrow and we’ll see where it goes from there. Hopefully it will be as popular as my Pizza Hut campaign since it’s led to my national ad campaign as the face of PH (oh wait…)
———-
Tod Pike
Canon U.S.A., Inc.
1 Canon Plz
New Hyde Park, NY 11042-1119
Dear Mr. Canon-
My name is Nick and I love Canon cameras. For serious, they rock. I’m not what you’d call a normal Canon customer since I do a lot of international traveling for fun. I’ve taken my beloved Canon dSLR (a well beaten Rebel XT, and now a 40D!) and some L series lenses to over 25 countries (6 continents with the next one coming soon) since I’ve had it in the last 2 years.
Seriously, I am your #1 fan. I was dating this girl for some time and she was looking at digital cameras to buy. I’m like, here, why don’t you look at my awesome Canon camera equipment. She was like, wow, this is awesome stuff! So I’m all excited and thinking wow, this is a great opportunity for us to bond AND THEN WHAT DID SHE DO? SHE BOUGHT A DAMN NIKON DSLR. It was worse than being cheated on, because I figure – neither she or the dude she’s cheating on me with still doesn’t have a kickass camera (unless he was a professional photographer with one of the 1D series cameras, in that case, I would cry). I mean, we couldn’t even share lenses or memory cards or any thing that a relationship is built on. It was over. True story.
My photos are progressively getting better, but I think it’s because I to go a lot of cool places and can’t edit them as nice as I’d like. My technique is awful, but my camera sure makes me look important. Last Halloween I was trying to take photos down the Chicago River and it was cold and windy so I decided to go to the nearest bar which was at the Sheraton. I had all my camera stuff with me and they asked if I was the photographer for the Vibe Magazine sponsored Halloween party. So I said, sure, I can be! So thanks to my Canon dSLR, a pudgy dorky guy wandered around a Vibe Magazine party and took photos. Then the dental convention from upstairs came down and it was like LOL because it was totally hilarious. I took more photos and met nice people, including one of the Chicago Bulls players. If it wasn’t for my Canon camera, they would have been like “get lost sucker.” Thanks Canon!
Oooh, and don’t forget the lenses. I love my L series lenses. Don’t get me wrong – the non L’s were great lenses but the L series lenses were like totally awesome. It’s like when you’ve never had ice cream and you’re introduced to Mr. Haagen Daas and you’re like – holy crap this is awesome! And then came the L series lenses and that was like having Cold Stone ice cream, which is like a superslam of awesome. That’s what your L series lenses mean to me.
I got the Powershot TX1 as my pocket camera so I don’t have to worry about hitting the bars or nightclubs with a big dSLR. Nothing says dork like that. It’s a cute little camera and I have my manhood mocked when I use it but I take better photos, so I mock them in return.
If you can, I would be your total bff if you came up with something that removes tourists from my photos within the Canon software included with cameras, that’d be totally awesome. You would even make my Christmas card list if you did that. Even better, something that shoots pain rays out of my L series lenses so that idiots won’t get in my way when I’m trying to take a super cool photo. Megapixels are all cool and stuff but if I can make idiots get out of my way would make for even better photos. For serious.
If you ever need an amateur photographer to test new toys out, I’m your man. I run around the globe and can test out stuff in all sorts of situations, from frigid cold to hot as a mother. I’d even tell you how much the girls would like the camera. Imagine that! A SLR has the women flocking to you! It’d be just like the beer commercials but without guys who look like total jerkfaces.
Shutterly yours,
Nick Hawkins
Canon Enthusiast
10
Sep 07
Riding in the rain
Today I busted out of the house after work and decided to squeeze a ride in before it started to pour outside. I didn’t prepare at all – just ran out with a long sleeve shirt and shorts and hopped on the bike. Riding east on Illinois, I got slammed with a good headwind and started muttering to myself “why the hell am I doing this?” and turned and headed north. Bad mistake. I turned into what was a 30+ mph headwind and dropped the gears down in order to feel like I was making progress. I was huffing and puffing and going all of 11 mph into the wind. I hunkered down, grabbed the aerobars and started to work it. Other cyclists saw that I was putting effort into my ride and latched on behind me to draft off of me. I felt like I hit a wall going uphill to Oak Street from Navy Pier. I decided to tough it out and reevaluate the asskicking I was receiving at Fullerton. Made it to Fullerton and kept it up and made it all the way to the top of the lakefront path in awful wind and turned the puppy around. I was able to set my normal gears and proceeded to work my way home. Then came the rain. It wasn’t that bad – it was a slow, steady rain – not much of a pour, but still it rained.
I don’t mind riding in the rain. Sure, it’s a bit slower and more mentally tougher to get through, but I like it. You’re forced to be a bit more active and you have to worry about getting cold, and thus, getting stupid. I wasn’t as cold as I should have been but I felt good riding downhill in the rain. I got home, washed the bike off and felt pretty good about my ride despite being underdressed and having to deal sucky wind.